#The soundtrack to this game is also so pretty and makes me so very emotional

[collectorcookie]

*in a puddle of my own tears* hey guys. you really weren't kidding when you all said that "looking glass" will make me cry huh

[dangerouslyknown]

Hiromi Higuruma Headcanons 🌻

A/N: Ughhh I have been having literally 0 motivation for writing, kind of like an art block. I wanna write so much but something just prevents me lmao... But this man, I swear. He just sparked my will to write and hopefully also work off the requests and one trade with a friend I have been working on. Also I just haaaad to get these out of my head

Contents/warnings: Random general headcanons, relationship headcanons & NSFW headcanons. I am just writing about "his S/O" and referring to S/O with they/them. Doesn't contain spoilers from JJK story, just Higuruma and his existence

General headcanons

He listens to Modern Talking. Don't ask where this comes from, I just feel like he'd like their music. Also somehow I was thinking he'd like Bon Jovi, too? He isn't like a crazy fan for either of them, just likes various of their songs. Could see him listening instrumental music as well, like game/movie soundtracks

Surprisingly enough he isn't a huge drinker. He enjoys an alcoholic drink every now and then to refresh, but he knows his limits. He knows when it feels good and when it goes overboard

He doesn't have visible muscles for the most part, I'd like to think him having a bit of body fat which hides them. My man is an attorney, he hasn't been focusing in training or being physically fit all that much. He does like to keep himself in decent shape though, because healthy body equals a healthy mind

He's not tall per se, more like average height, definitely under 180 centimeters

He's a minimalist. He doesn't have anything "extra" in his apartment, just the necessities

Speaking off, his wardrobe probably isn't huge either. Maybe a basic suit or two, so he can wash the other and still have the other one wearable. Otherwise his wardrobe is filled with mostly casual comfortable clothes. He values practical clothes, too

If he ends up having time to play games, he'd definitely mostly be into single player, story focused games. Not into fps games. One of his favorites are, funny enough, Ace Attorney games (he also likes the soundtrack)

SFW relationship headcanons

He doesn't strike me as a person who would be into dating all that much, but if he finds so called a right person, he might consider it. He doesn't really sleep around with lots of people either

He values the personality of a person more than looks. Forming an emotional and a mental bond is what matters him the most when it comes to a relationship

He doesn't even have a type, really. He thinks he is capable of finding anyone attractive if their personality hits him

And while we are at it, I bet he would love to have conversations with his S/O about anything. He'd love to discuss anything, silly to serious to deep thoughts with the right person. He wants to hear his S/Os thoughts and share his own

He'd also love to have playful, sarcasm filled banters/debates with his S/O

Either quality time or physical touch are his love languages

Quality time, because he is often doing long days and working a lot so he might not be around as much as he'd like. But when he finally is around his S/O, no matter what they do, he is going to be very happy. He likes to do the most basic, mundane things together with his S/O. Having breakfast, watching TV, showering together, cooking together, sitting together in the same room...

And what comes to physical touch, he just loves to get touchy with his S/O and most of the time not even in a sexual way. It is like a way to make up for all the time he hasn't been around. All the little touches and kisses he exchanges with his S/O makes him feel so loved

Oh, and one thing he'd absolutely love is to get a massage from his S/O. He would literally melt to their touch

(NSFW under the cut)

NSFW relationship headcanons

I think he is pretty vanilla... But he is very open to try new things and kinks for his S/O and for his own curiosity. He'd also be pretty gentle overall, but he loves his sex passionate, with an intimate, personal feel to it

He is a heavy switch when it comes to dynamics. He can top, he can bottom. But I have a feeling he'd have a tiny little submissive side in the sheets. He isn't opposed to being dominative either, but like I said, he is mostly vanilla so these kind of dynamics aren't exactly what he desires in the sheets

He prefers to do all the sexy stuff mostly in somewhere private, only him and his S/O... but he can't deny that he has thought of taking them in his office. Something about the though of him fucking them on his desk turns him on

He would definitely love having sex with clothes (mostly) on. First of all, he can be a bit tired after long days (and lazy, too) but, like, just having his dick out of his fly... or both of his and his S/Os pants just slightly lowered. It's all just so hot for him

Oh, and he'd love to fuck his S/O anywhere (privately). On the floor, on the sofa, against a wall. He isn't picky, he just wants to feel good

I still feel like bed is his to-go, because he is often tired to do anything extreme and it's just overall more comfortable to get down to business in the sheets

Previously mentioned that his love language is physical touch which applies to this aspect too. Sex is also a part of that for him. Sex is also a way for him to feel deeply connected with his S/O, physically and emotionally

Sex with his S/O is his favorite stress relieving method

I'll say it: I never thought he'd have a big cock. Recently, I came across Kyo-00´s Headcanons of the dicks of JJK men, and I agree on her take of Higuruma. I had previously thought he'd be more like average sized or so

He doesn't need to have a huge cock though, because he knows how to use what he has. He also has his mouth, his nose and his hands to make one pleased

This could probably go without saying, but he loves when his S/O shows him that he is desired and cared for. He would get so excited if his S/O initiated intimacy and slid their hand to his pants to play with his still limp dick, stroking it while giving his neck and face soft kisses all over... (Consensually, of course. He isn't always in the mood for that stuff either) Anyhow, that just sends a message to him which turns him on. Who would even want to have sex with someone who doesn't seem into it?

I believe he wouldn't want kids, so he 100% would get a vasectomy especially if his S/O is a afab/female so there isn't a need to worry about pregnancy

[kaytheday]

Official Outsiders Musical Thoughts

Hi! I know a week ago or so there was some tag-game where I was asked about my thoughts about the Outsiders musical. I have finished the soundtrack and have written my thoughts on each song under the cut. I have also included my favorite songs and overall thoughts. It’s pretty long winded because I had a lot of thoughts, on the music, lyrics, and storytelling aspects. Thanks for reading!

Tulsa 1967:

- The start almost made me laugh.

- Small town bop for sure. It seems like Ponyboy wants to leave.

- Very typical musical opening number. I enjoy the succession of this song, every musicals opening number starts slow and progresses.

- “Just last week some socs beat the living hell out of him, he hasn’t been the same since.” He did not have to introduce Johnny like that. There are other great things about Johnny.

- “If you’re not born into money, you’re born into despair.” I like this line.

Grease got a hold:

- Being a greaser is earned? I kind of like that.

- Chicks love a busted up face? Soda right though.

- “I’m a latchkey kid but they keep changing the locks” I like this line.

- “Being a greaser is playing your hand even if you’re sure you can’t win.”

- This song really broke down what a being a greaser is all about. Which the book and movie didn’t really do but I like the background.

Runs in the family:

- This is actually a bop, despite the song having sad lyrics.

- Brent Comers voice is so big. He has a thinner frame than I thought he would but you can tell his voice really projects.

- He’s got that southern sort of charm. This gives more layers to Darry and shows that Brent is fantastically talented.

- The simple double bass line and simple snare drum is perfect for the feeling the song is trying to give the audience.

-The bass line is phenomenal and I would like to learn it one day.

-One of my favorite songs overall.

Great expectations:

- Brody Grant is a very talented broadway singer, he probably has the most ‘Broadway’ sounding voice out of everyone and even if then it’s not that much.

- This song really communicates Ponyboys inner guilt at his situation. How he wants to do well despite the hand he’s been dealt. He wants to make his family proud.

- The ensemble in the back of the chorus is a really nice touch. Gives the sense that he really is overwhelmed with peoples expectations of him. That there is a ton of people counting on him, echoing his hopes and dreams.

Friday at the Drive-in

- They make it seem like Ponyboy has like a massive crush on Cherry.

- With the succession and structure of this song it just sounds like it is visually pleasing and has good dance choreography. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.

I could talk to you all night:

- Why are they in love with each other?

- Emma Pittman is stunning though.

- I like that they made Cherry a more dimensional character.

- She feels like she doesn’t fit in despite her ‘queen soc’ persona.

-This is in parallel to how Ponyboy feels he doesn’t fit in with the kids he grouped in with either. For example, Ponyboy likes to draw, write, read, he actually likes school, and he is pretty emotional. This is contrast to the typical greaser, who doesn’t do any of these things. He feels alienated from his ‘group’ and so does Cherry. I could do an entire post on this!

- Harmony’s are top tier. They were moving their voices together, just great. They blend well together.

- Brody’s southern accent is terrible, though I don’t know if they are doing them in the musical at all. Someone let me know if that isn’t right.

Runs in the family (reprise)

- I always enjoy a good reprise.

- “I’ll fold laundry, I’ll fold all of it!” Soda is me.

- Brent Comer got a sweet low voice and exhibits a lot of rang in this song.

- We never got to see this side of Darry, (the emotional, worrisome side) but I think Pony and Darry will both realize that they do love each other and are more similar than they think.

Far away from Tulsa:

- Small town bop? Ponyboy still wants to get out of Tulsa.

- Also… Johnny and Ponyboy imagining a life together? Go off I guess.

- Sky Lakota has got a great voice too! They blend well.

- Brody grant does push his voice well.

- The bleed into great expectations is great foreshadowing.

Run run brother:

- Very cool mysterious minor key. The whole song has a worried urgent feel, this is perfect for the part of the story.

- Joshua Boone has got a beautiful smooth voice.

- Im sure The musical succession goes great with the choreography and I would love to see this.

- The reacuring idea that you have to earn greaser is cool. It also plays on the idea that Ponyboy doesn’t feel like he fits in with the Greasers at all.

- All the previous songs bleeding into this into kind of cacophony is cool form of story telling. And this cacophony style form is a perfect illustration of how everything is going wrong at that moment.

Justice for Tulsa:

- Sorry Kevin William Paul, his voice is quite unremarkable for a broadway singer.

- I would actually listen to a full Emma Pittman album. She’s got a sweet emotional voice and she hits all the notes well and seems genuine.

- I like this other side of the story, with cherry and Randy? (I don’t know who that is) Arguing about everything that’s happened. It gives Cherry depth.

Deaths at my door:

- Cool farm/country sounding Segway and transition.

- The themes of death following him are interesting. First his parents and and now Johnny and Dally soon.

- Great foreshadowing for what is about to happen.

-Point in the story where Ponyboy wants to give up. Again more parallels to how Darry may feel.

- ‘I had no reason to live in Tulsa’ ‘the reason I’m living is you’ ???????

Throwing in the towel:

- The southern accent is great on Brent.

- Coming to terms with the mistakes he’s made is amazing. We never got to see that before.

- Also the similar themes of both Pony and Darry wanting to give up is cool. They are more alike than they realize.

- The progression and melody of this song are cool.

- Jason Schmidt is amazing. He’s using just enough rasp in his voice but I’d like to see him use more.

- They blend so well!

- Brody grants subtle vocals on certain parts is perfect. It gives us the feeling that Ponyboy still had a great influence on his brothers though he isn’t at the house.

- I watched the music video and I cried. Probably my favorite song out of the entire soundtrack.

Sodas letter:

- This song will kill me.

- Such a nice touch.

- Almost as heartbreaking at crutchies letter from Newsies.

- The melody is very similar to Tulsa 1967 and runs in the family. This is a nod to reacuring themes through the story.

- Darry finishing the last line is everything to me.

- Also ‘say hi to Jonny for us’. 🥹

Hoods turned heroes:

- Two bit finally gets some love.

-Cool themes of how media changes perception.

Hopeless war:

- Emma Pittman vocal control is insane. Can I be just like her when I grow up?

- Also I like this side of it better. Them conversing instead of Randy and Pony.

- The melody is cool and heartbreaking, perfect for the lyrics.

- Another one of my favorites in the entire soundtrack.

- I cried.

Trouble:

- Basically the Outsiders version of ‘The World Will Know’ from Newsies.

- Darry caring about Ponyboy is everything. The concern in Brent’s voice is golden.

Little brother:

- Cool beginning with the slap bass and snare.

- I’ve been waiting for Joshua Boones solo song the entire time!

- I just want to hear Joshua over sing, but his performance in this song broke my heart.

- ‘Little brother’ ‘I can’t save you’ ‘I can’t even save myself’

- Foreshadowing is crazy ↑

- ‘If I ain’t got you, I ain’t got nothing else’

-Similar to ‘Wait for it’ from Hamilton.

- I like the Appalachian style sounding successions.

- Calling Johnny little brother is everything. I like that he’s called both Johnny and Pony little brothers the whole time.

- Joshua Boone is definitely star material. He reminds me of a budding Leslie Odom Jr. I wish they would have given him a chance to oversing more.

- Another one of my favorite songs

Stay gold:

- Johnny coming back? That killed me.

- He sang this song to perfection.

- ‘Finding beauty in the fold’ I love that this touched on Johnny finding peace with dying.

- The simple guitar and ballad format is perfect for Johnnys final words and Sky Lakotas voice.

- The blending in the end? Perfection.

- ‘Tell Dally, I don’t think he knows’ the voice crack killed me.

- Another song I will literally never get over.

Finale (Tulsa ‘67)

- Ponyboy really wants to leave Tulsa

- Brent comer ending it is everything.

- I love the full circle that Ponyboy knows how much his brothers do for him.

- ‘Can you imagine how proud mom and dad would be?’ 😭😭

-The ‘boys with black eyes’ monologue part is similar to the succession of newsies ‘kids working in sweatshops’ monologue.

Overall notes:

- Great! I really need to go see it!

- I like how they touched on Darry’s hardships with raising the boys more than in the book, he deserves that.

- I like how Cherry was represented more. I liked how she felt she didn’t fit in either and how she talked with Pony instead of Randy.

- They all have great voices!

- I haven’t seen it but I’m sure the choreography is amazing.

-If anyone has tickets and flights let me know 😭

My favorite songs in order:

1. Throwing in the towel

2. Runs in the Family

3. Little Brother

4. Hopeless War

5. And of course Stay Gold

[the-bitter-ocean]

oceaaaannn hiii! let's go with 3, 5, and 15 for the isat ask game c:

(MAJOR A6SE / 2HATS SPOILERS + FULL GAME SPOILERS AHOY) Thank you for the questions @dekupalace ! Since I’m going to be talking more in depth about the game for one of these questions I’m going to put my responses under a read more:

3- favorite soundtrack?

Oh god that’s such a hard question the whole game has certified bangers. The musicians at Studio Thumpy Puppy were not messing around or pulling any punches. The soundtrack of the game elevates literally every emotional beat. If I was forced to choose only one song out of the soundtrack my favorite track in the whole game has to be “How Can You Help Me, Stardust?” aka the theme that plays when you fight Loop at the Favor tree during act six. Hearing that for the first time while getting the full context of loop’s backstory made me go crazy. It was so fucking emotional and well done. That and it’s just objectively a super intense high energy song that makes me wanna dance around. If anyone deserves the coolest fight theme in the game, it’s Loop.

5- favorite optional event?

Ooh this is also a hard one! I adore a lot of the optional story events because each of them really shed light on Siffrin’s mental state /characterization, as well as gives depth to other aspects like the other character of the world building as a whole which strengthens the themes of the story. Aside from the obvious choice (2Hats Ending/ Act six loop encounter) I think my favorite optional event would have to be the “Who Was Phone” achievement (Change God event). There’s something so fascinating about learning about the Change God. Someone who clearly adores their certified little guy (Mirabelle) and is willing to offer words of kindness and assurance in her identity even if it knows she won’t remember in one instance..and then in the very same breath tell Siffrin that they enjoy watching Siffrin in the timeloop torment nexus because they’re curious to see how they change in a situation where everything is forced to stagnate. It was so genuinely fucked. I will think about it always forever.

15- anything you’d change about the game? be it game mechanics, a new feature, a change in plot, etc

Overall I’m pretty satisfied with the game both in story and gameplay actually. I think Adrienne did a good job writing and expanding on the characters and story that was set up in the prologue. The quality of life in terms of gameplay got improved since the previous game as well ( those who played the prologue can attest to this) . The fact that it was a in universe story reason as to why makes it all the more satisfying (if you want to know what I mean by that please read my mutuals @felikatze analysis about it here.)

I just am happy that Siffrin got to be happy in the end and stay with their family, to be able to talk things out and escape the loops. I know some people didn’t like that or expected a more darker/sadder ending or wanted the gameplay to be more challenging … my response to that is Literally Just Play Start Again: A Prologue. To me it would be extremely reductive to have Siffrin just suffer with no reprieve or escape from the loops (because that’s just a repeat of what happened in its predecessor) or have the group just split off from each other immediately after everything happened. It would have been extremely unsatisfying and ultimately missing the point of the themes of the game as a whole gonna be real lol.

The only things I’d maybe change or add is like it would’ve been cute to see Euphrasie and Claude be together/ reunite on screen in act 6. They should kiss. Lol. (That and just I would’ve personally loved to see Euphrasie in canon expanded on a little more but that’s not necessarily needed she serves her purpose in the narrative. I just like analyzing her and giving her more depth and I like when others do too, but that’s what fanart/ fics and aus are for so I’m not fussed.) 

I don’t mind that the game is sort of open ended and doesn’t answer all the questions. I think that gives artists, fanfic writers, Au makers and people who like to analyze the game more freedom to come up with their own interpretations for things that happened in pre canon and post canon which to me is more interesting. I know Loop disappearing at the end of the game in both endings is sad/ bittersweet but I wouldn’t necessarily change the way that was structured either. I like that their fate was ambiguous because it leads the viewer to come up with their own theories as to where they went. ( personally I love seeing stuff where loop gets to travel on their own and form a new life and identity outside of the loops and learn to heal, as well as post game getting to meet back up with the party and learn to navigate this new life/ change one step at a time. )

[jelly-of-many-ships]

Intersting experience in math class:

I was doing some work while listening to the good omens soundtrack because it helps me focus and I love remembering which scene each track is from. Anyway, David Arnold (the composer) also composed most of the music for BBC Sherlock, which I don’t think too many people know (He’s amazing and I love literally everything he makes). And so when I finished the good omens album it started playing other music by the artist, which in this case, happened to be the BBC Sherlock intro.

I have not heard that song in almost a year in a half. BBC Sherlock was like a canon event for me, it was the first real fandom I joined and it introduced me to tumblr, fanfiction, and literally every concept associated with fandoms. Most pieces media Ive consumed, and definitely every fandom i’ve joined since then has been in some way because of tumblr, or other fandom spaces. Even good omens, which I am currently hyperfixating on to a frankly concerning extent, I was only introduced to via the domino effect of BBC Sherlock.

Why is this important? idk...backstory I guess? whatever, anyways, after awhile a fell more and more out of interest with Sherlock, and while I’d definitely still consider myself in the fandom, I’m just not really that into it anymore, especially since the rest of the fandom isn’t very active either. The year when my interest was the strongest was a very interesting time. I was really insecure and not very happy, but I had some amazing people in my life who I really miss. These two things, I think, are possibly the worst combination to have in terms of nostalgia, and I find that experiencing things that remind me of this period feels very strange. For example I physically cannot listen to some of the songs I added to my playlist around this time without getting really emotional, but I refuse to delete them because they really do feel like a part of me. From time to time I do remember the bad things and maybe feel a bit upset, and yet if I could go back, I know I would, just to remember what it was like to experience it all.

I don’t think I could ever fully explain it but BBC Sherlock genuinely felt like opening a very weird portal, and so when in the middle of math class, immediately after listening to the good omens track “the end?” and vividly imagining the end credit scene of season two, the Sherlock intro started playing, I felt such a strange mix of awe and nostalgia that I almost started crying. It sounds pretty stupid typing this up, but it was such a unique experience, and I don’t think I can really explain it. Good Omens is the only thing I’ve been even somewhat interested in to the extend of Sherlock, and after listening to possibly the most depressing song of the entire show, to have such a sharp reminder of who I used to be blast full volume into my head felt like diving headfirst into cold water. It really does sound stupid, but in that exact moment I remembered everything; the evening I heard that song for the first time, staying up for hours scrolling through pinterest and discovering the fandom, the first day I told my friends about it, the day i read my first fanfic, the day I was so convinced they were gay I accidentally discovered shipping (lol), the night I finished season 4, alone, at 2am, the day I joined tumblr, the week I learned how to play “the game is on” on piano, and the lunch period I wrote my first fic after daydreaming about it for weeks.

These things probably seem pretty mundane, but this was like a new world to me. They represent more than just discovering I new interest though. They’re some of the only memories I have of that time. I cut my hair, I realized I was queer, and for the first time in my entire life I had an actual friendgroup, one that I still care about so much. Life was, at the same time horrible, yet the best it had ever been, and I didn’t even know it. When I really think about It, I realize in actuality how little time has really passed, but everything feels so different. I think to myself that there’s no way that person was me, that the kid who had so much energy and enthusiasm for life, poetry and writing and had yet never felt so insecure couldn’t have possibly turned into the burnt out, powerless person I feel I am today.

At least I’m not so insecure anymore? I’m not so sure what to say. All I know, is I think that moment in math class made me realize how much I’ve grown, how much I appreciate those experience I got to have, and how much that song will always mean to me.

[alvin-draper]

Alien: Romulus

spoilers!

let's chat. and also preface with the fact I've only seen alien and Aliens before, both of which I adore and rewatch endlessly.

I've seen some reviewers talk about this, but Andy carried that movie character wise. Everyone else was good - props to the weird cousin guy. He was a dick but he added some much needed internal group conflict.

Andy and Rain - she was weirdly cookie cutter in a very video game protagonist kinda way. She had a goal: get off planet. She had a brother who she viewed both as person and as pet. Something to be loved and coddled. At no point was she ready for him to have more agency. From the minute you knew she'd decided to leave him behind, you could plot the course of her entire arc. Andy was better. I was worried they were doing a weirdly placed take on adults with strong autism to start with, and was kinda relieved to find out he was artificial with a buggy system, and then realised that actually no the comparison still 100% works, but I like how they played it. He gets agency with intelligence, but it's at the cost of losing his human connections. His little sister, and the friends he's an outlier to. He never feels integrated into the group, always slightly on the outside. When he gets his new chip and directive, I read it as equal parts programming and rebellion. It took away some of his desire to do anything for Rain, and replaced it with pragmatism. But you can see its still him in there, and that he's mad about them leaving him behind. He keeps making decisions to keep Rain alive, but he focuses in on her life rather than her emotional needs, and lets other people die. It still reads as love, to me. But instead of her sacrificing him for her better life, he sacrificed her emotional wellbeing for both of them to live. Definitely the character with the most intricacy.

As said, everyone else and everything else felt kind of cookie cutter. The characters don't make interesting decisions. Its still well written and well done: you understand the how'd and whys of every decision they make. But none of them shine enough to keep up with Andy.

Okay, enough character stuff. Let's talk everything else.

The score and sound mixing: incredible. Loved that it started on that deep space silence. The music is good and more than functional, will probably listen to the soundtrack as a background for a while. The best choice sound wise in the whole movie is when she floats out the bottom of the cargo bay in the final act and the sound cuts almost completely. You could've heard a pin drop.

The look of the thing: impeccable. The minute they get onto those prowling H G Geiger ships I was sold on the whole thing. The wires and curves and me grin so hard. Less excellent alien hiding places than I would've liked, but they didn't use that trick too many times so it worked out. The red and orange lighting in the dark rooms gave the movie a very distinct aesthetic, separate from the other Alien movies that I've seen. And of course the shot composition was glorious. One of my favourite visuals was in the water filled cyro fuel room, when Andy freezes and reboots. Hi standing stock still as the camera pans up and we the audience understand: oh shit, that's a lot of facehuggers.

Things they set up and paid off: the pregnancy. Andy slipping a vial of the compound into his pocket. The X Ray scanner. The dropped key. The gravity timer. Just about the security cameras. Things they didn't quite pay off: the temperature sensing device. The facehuggers travelling through the vents. The sharp edges and quick mechanical closing of the vent covers they get into the ship through.

Shit that came out of nowhere: all the goddamn fully grown xenomorphs. That bit was pretty out of left field. I had anticipated there being more Aliens, but they fact they left it so late doesn't really make much internal sense. I guess because they were in the other half of the outpost?

Callbacks I loved: the Nostromo at the start and the vague references to Ripley. Rook being Ash. That was gooooood. Also shows that the companies whole thing in Aliens that synthetics aren't like that anymore is kind of bollocks.

That fucking thing: I'm calling it Romulus for obvious reasons. I thought the design was excellent. So fucking horrifying. I will be having nightmares. Its like they reached into my subconscious and designed it specifically to get to me. Incredible. Didn't like the fact it roared I think if it had made either an Alien hiss or a human noise it would've been way more compelling. Properly horrifying though. Really hit home that it's a horror movie more than anything else. Also. The death scenes in the movie? Incredible. It did those Well. My favourite was absolutely the acid blood literally burning a whole through that guys chest, because it was visceral and brutal and horrifying and so so hell done. You could really feel the panic and tension and still clock him scrabbling at his chest just to melt his fingers and feeling sick all over again. Just brilliant.

Overall: it was good! It sucks that I only really liked Andy, and he only really atarts coming into his own after Rain betrays him. Still fucked she took his autonomy away again at the end, even if their quipping was cute. Loved them raising the temperature of that room as a disguise that was inspired. Loved them turning off the Gravity to shoot the Aliens that also worked great. The elevator was also a good set piece. The biggest let down in this movie is the characters. Andy's great, Rain is alright, and sos the cousin who's only around for the firstish act. Bit the main side character guy, who's sisters pregnant? I don't even remember his name. They kept hinting at there being both backstories for him and for Rain that were more interesting than what he got. For him, some kind of genuine military past. For her: she'd been to Yvaga before. Maybe even grew up there as a little kid. It was an opportunity to add proper dimension to both characters that was squandered in favor of the crazier action scenes, which sucks. This movie was in dire need of clearer and deeper characters, particularly because in my eyes that'd what Alien does best, and Aliens takes a really good stab at considering the larger main cast.

Essentially. It's a good damn horror movie, but I'm not sure it's a great Alien movie, for all the incredible HR Giger and weird sexual violence undertones. I'm just not sure that plot wise it earned its Alien credentials. Like the last few lines. Rain leaves a log, as she's the last survivor of her ship. But there's no passenger log. It was never an authorised mission. Its a pointless message to leave. It gives the audience closure because it flashes us back to the end of Alien, but it makes no sense as closure for Rain. That's where I'm at.

[fluffypichu876]

what's your story with FF and what do you like about it? (<- clueless about this series and intimidated by the number of entries it has)

Heya mutual!! I see that my incesant FF rambling has finally bothered someone, eh? xDDD

My story with Final Fantasy is actually quite recent, as surprising as that may be! It all started with one game that is responsible for introducing many franchises for many of its players like me, none other than Super Smash Bros. Ultimate itself.

I had been playing SSBU pretty much since release, having enjoyed SSB4 on the 3DS, but I never really cared about the one FF character available there at the time: mister Cloud Strife himself (boy wouldn't that change quickly xDD). And I didn't know much about the franchise either, except for very brief knowledge about Kingdom Hearts (a crossover between FF and Disney, yeah don't ask I've always found that strange xD), so I never had much of an incentive to look into it.

Until one faithful day in december of 2020, of course, the day that The Game Awards of that year aired, bringing with it a very unexpected (but very welcome) reveal of a new character that was joining Smash.

THE videogame anime swordfighter himself, Sephiroth.

I didn't actually watch TGA that day (it was pretty late at night here in my country), so I only learned about it the next day. When I watched the trailer, my immediate thought was, no lies, "Hey, isn't that guy from Kingdom Hearts?"

Technically not wrong, he does appear in the first two KH games, but also very wrong lol. I went into Smash's official site and saw there that he came from Final Fantasy VII. Huh.

I didn't pay much mind to it, but I did see many fans' reactions to Seph getting into the game. They seemed to love the guy a lot, given that they recognized it was him the second the first note of his theme started playing in the trailer (tbh if I was a FF7 fan by then I too would recognize him. One-Winged Angel is that damn iconic.) That made me understand that, well, this FF7 must be a very dear game to many.

And then came the memes. Oh boy did the Youtube algorithm enjoy the "Sephiroth gets into smash to torment poor Cloud" memes. I watched so many of these damn memes that it was only a matter of time until I decided to finally check the franchise out. And so I did. I downloaded the 3 FF7 discs on the internet (shhhhh don't tell Square), booted my PSX emulator (previously only used to play SOTN), and started the game for the first time.

I fell in love with it pretty damn fast.

In the first 4 hours in fact.

Now, FF7 is 27 years old. It was one of the first PSX games, so naturally it's outdated as hell. But despite the low-polygon graphics, the pixelated 240p pre-rendered backgrounds, the terrible CGI that would look like an amateur's first animation nowadays, and the obscurity of the game design that led to some confusing mechanics and lots of missable content, the game still manages to hold up quite well through time and I find it to be a very enjoyable experience overall, even nowadays.

The characters, the story, the combat, the very world map, which made Midgar look so tiny and at the same so big, the fucking soundtrack, composed by Nobuo Uematsu, which carries every single emotion you feel in this damn game, making up for the lack of voice-acting and character expressions in a really unique way. All delivered in that charming early 3D videogame fashion. In other words, it's hard to not fall in love with the sheer uniqueness of FF7. Like I did. I couldn't stop playing it.

Right, FF7 rambling done! This game was my first in the franchise, and beating it felt really good back in the day. So good that pretty much instantly I was already looking into another one to play, Final Fantasy 8.

The sheer jump in technology from FF7 to FF8 can impress even a modern player that has seen countless realistic modern games, honestly. It sure did impress me, at least. Seriously, they jumped from this:

To this:

In two fucking years. On the same console.

But anyways, after beating FF8, which I enjoyed a lot (not as much as FF7 though), I jumped into FF9 after a short while. That one quickly became my favorite in the series for multiple reasons, mainly for the characters and their amazing moments in the story.

After a brief hiatus with FF, I played FFX, which immediately jumped into a fight with 9 for the title of favorite FF game in my head xD (I may have to replay both to finally settle that internal debate, honestly) I just loved the combat (and the soundtrack that still makes me cry, wow).

And not long after beating X, the FF brainrot began to naturally cease and finally, it went into a deep slumber...

...until it came back out of nowhere quite recently, as you might have noticed, dear mutual xD. I blame FF7 Rebirth for making everyone talk about the game I love again lol.

And here we are today! Final Fantasy stands out to me for it's uniqueness, really. It's that simple. It follows many of its traditions, but it also breaks and innovates them in pretty much every new title, for better or for worse. Every FF game feels different, each set in its own universe and fictional world, and yet they are the same, familiar enough so that you keep coming back to the franchise every once in a while without feeling lost or overwhelmed.

And yes mutual, I too was confused at first because of ever increasing number of entries xD FF is one hell of an old franchise, dating all the way back to the NES era, and I respect it a lot for not suffering too much stagnation like the majority of old-running game franchises.

My advice for anyone looking to get into FF is too simply pick the one that looks the best for you. Like I mentioned before, the games are rarely interconnected and always take place in different universes, being loosely similar thanks to recurring elements like chocobos, enemies like the cactuar, some classic tracks, character jobs and archetypes, spells like Firaga and Esuna, summons like Shiva and Bahamut, etc. So no matter which game you pick to try out and get a taste of the franchise, if you enjoy it you may be inclined to try more, turning into a vicious cycle of wanting to play more than like 10 games with the same name back-to-back wtf xD.

As for me, recently XV has caught my attention thanks to fucking youtube again jesus christ that damn website is responsible everytime i get insane over a ff game i swear pretty easily, and I will probably end up playing it sooner or later. I like the roadtrip aspect, the friendship and banter between the main characters, as well as the realistic modern setting that basically never happens in FF (Noctis looks so damn normal compared to every other FF protagonist xD. Just look at him in Dissidia NT, man!).

Alright, I think I have typed enough words. Thanks for the ask mutual, I get pretty giddy at every opportunity to scream about Final Fantasy xD.

[witchzoe]

Here are my overall thoughts on Rogue Trader now having played through the game.

The biggest thing is definitely how much it just absolutely nails the Warhammer 40k setting and the vibes. Not only for the Imperium itself, but also for all Xenos races you encounter. Immaculate in that regard.

The companions are all pretty fun and have some interesting stories that develop over the course of the game. There should be someone for everyone here.

The game is a relative straight lift of the Rogue Trader TTRPG, so it is relatively crunchy with a lot of possible choices of different talents, abilities and skills. That allows you to build a lot of different characters, but it can also be a bit overwhelming. I myself just picked the talents that fit into the archetype I envisioned and most of the fights in the game were relatively easy (on Normal difficulty). But I you could tell me that any Talent is overpowered/useless and I would probably believe you.

The additional mechanics of colony management, Voidship Combat and exploration were all pretty fun imo. I liked that every colony had its own storyline that developed as you built it up and changed based on previous choices. I also liked the in-universe story book sequences for events that wouldn't really work in the game itself.

The soundtrack does its job. It helps build the atmosphere and fits well into the game, but it also isn't something I would listen to outside the game.

The voice acting is fine, but I am not very good at judging that so I can't say much on that topic. I do wish that some of the emotional scenes had voice acting.

Normally I am not a fan of "morality points", but the division into Heretic, Iconoclast and Dogmatic as well as you earning points for these orientations makes sense in the setting. And I never really felt that my roleplaying choices were limited.

The game could have used a bit more content in Chapter 4 and 5. But there is DLC on the horizon, so that can change.

I would have wished to a bit more reactions from my companions to my actions. Especially during the Heretic playthrough there were some actions that prompted no reactions, that definitely should have prompted some. Also there was only one occasion on which my Origin/Homeworld was acknowledged in game.

There are still a few bugs in the game. The companion banter is definitely bugged. Fortunately most bugs fell into the funny category and not the annoying one.

Small one but I wish you could change your clothes. As a ruler of multiple planets it is weird to be stuck with the clothes determined by your origin.

The game needs to be gayer. Three of your companions are bisexual, but otherwise there exist no same-sex relationship. Trans people and Enbies also don't exist, not even as an option during character creation.

TL;DR: Fun game that really nails the 40k setting with a fun story and companions. Still a bit bugged and definitely needs to be gayer

[crescencestudio]

Devlog #32 | 06.27.23

Hi everyone!

I'm here! With an Update! This is an exciting one because I am Finally releasing a Full! Game! <3 I will obviously still be talking about Alaris, but I am vibrating with excitement because I can't wait to release intertwine to you all! THE RELEASE DATE APPROACHES

Writing

Because we entered crunch mode for intertwine, this month was mostly focused on continuing to fill out Druk's route and my dissertation.

I didn't make as much progress on Druk's route as I would've liked (I was hoping to FINISH it, but Otojam crunch wrecked my ass). But I do have most of the route finished! At this point, I only have the final chapter to go, so we are Very Close! Druk's route is shaping up to be a really fun one. I like to sprinkle humor into all the routes, but because of Druk's character, there are a lot of funny (at least to me) cast interactions. I hope people enjoy it as much as I do because I have a big fat crush on him now!

Regarding editing, we are just about rounding out the last of Fenir's developmental edits (courtesy of local superhero dev Wudgeous of Herotome) and Kayn's line edits (courtesy of local royalty IF writer Vi of Next in Line). With Fenir's script coming up on the last of the developmental edits, that is basically two routes that are going to be ready for beta-testing after the updated demo, which is very exciting! I am extremely happy with how Fenir's route has turned out after some developmental revisions, and I hope you all like the sweet little (grumpy) baby's route!

Art

Again, most (all) of my attention was on intertwine art assets this month. I was focused on the rest of the GUI, sprite expression, and CGs so that the game will be ready for release at the end of this month!

I'm really happy with how intertwine has come out visually considering the two month time crunch! Many of the playtesters mentioned how they liked the GUI and overall aesthetic of the game, which---for my pea-sized brain that has no object permanence when it comes to compliments---meant the world to me!

Review of intertwine Screenshots (left to right, starting at the top row): Main Menu Screen, Options/Preferences Screen, In-Game Dialogue Preview, Exhibit Preview

For Alaris, I did still get some new backgrounds from Vui, and while they are beautiful, I can no longer share them since they venture into spoiler territory. Sorry folks!

I have a sneak peek of a little Something Something.

Adorable emotes for a certain Something Something! That's all I will leave you with for now <3

Additional Notes

I spent A LOT of this month coding. I re-entered programming hell to get intertwine up and running. There were a lot of features that I coded for the first time, like a texting interface, some animations, and one Special, Very Game-Centric Feature That I Can't Disclose Due to Extreme Spoilers. It was really rewarding to see it all come together, and I am pretty happy with the end result ^^

You don't even know the hell I went through to customize this texting feature

We also have a lovely voice actor for Van, which we revealed on Twitter. Max has been an amazing talent to work with, and I am in love with the way he brought Van to life!!

Finally, I spontaneously ended up working with Orpheo Fenn and Kija of Faefield Productions for a custom intertwine soundtrack. I've been wanting to work with them for a while, so I'm so happy we were able to collab!

No market research this month, except for the fact that I played Tears of the Kingdom a little bit in my free time ^^ I am so in love with Link. Also, I didn't see the appeal to Sidon in the first game, but for some reason in this game, It Clicked. Like I Get It.

That's all from me for this month. Look forward to an intertwine release in the coming days! I'm excited to get back into Alaris full-swing this upcoming month. I didn't think I'd feel this way after feeling oversaturated with them for a hot minute, but I miss my Alaris gang <3 See you all next month, and stay safe!

[wren-writes-things]

Hii wren <3

1, 8, 10, 28 for soft asks :3

Hey Pixel! How have you been?

1. What song makes you feel better?

Well music just calms me down in general, I’ve always just really enjoyed the piano and singing. So you can probably get me to listen to just about anything and I’ll probably be happy.

But let’s see… New Discovery by the Crane Wives and Meteor Shower by Cavetown both have a really nice imagery to them and I appreciate that. Also my roommate writes music and I always love hearing what she’s working on because I know she puts a lot of work into them.

Oh the BotW soundtrack. My absolute adoration for that game might provide a bias but I love it so much.

8. Tag someone (or multiple people) who make you feel good.

I had things to say and it got out of hand, this is not my fault. Also I realized partway through this that a surprisingly large percentage of my mutuals are trying to kill me with their fanfics. “Guys, you have to stop, I can only take so many emotions,” they say, as if they don’t choose which fanfics they read.

@liminal-lesbian | You’ve always left really supportive comments when I posted stuff about my AUs and you’re just a really nice person. It also makes up for the fact that your last fanfic inflicted permanent trauma on me. (Joking on that last part but seriously if you haven’t read her fanfics drop everything you’re doing and go read them now. You could be literally trying to save the world but this takes priority.)

@the-god-of-chaos-himself | You might have an evil alter ego trying to murder me as I type this, but you’re an awesome person to talk to and I enjoy our conversations. (Yes this does imply Dalex is trying to stab me and I’m just typing on my phone, I have ADHD what do you expect?)

@kiwibirb1 | I was so excited when we became mutuals the other day the other day, you’re just a very cool person and I’m always excited to see what new ideas you have.

@detentiontrack | So we do not talk much and I legitimately did not know you were aware of my existence, but you said I was nice the other day and it just made me really happy. Plus I just find your blog really interesting.

@sars-wulf | While you’re definitely trying to murder my emotional stability with your writing you are very cool. I really just enjoy talking to you.

@aspynnwoofs | You’re really exciting to have boop wars against, also you’re just a really nice person! We do not talk a ton (because I’m pretty sure we’re both bad at conversation initiation), but I really enjoy seeing you.

@meowlphibia | You’ve successfully become the most reasonable one in the adoptive family of Marcy Wu, but only because everyone else is completely unhinged. Congratulations on this award. Honestly though you’re just a really cool person to talk to.

@heart-wit-strength | The joy that I experience every time I notice you in my notifications is astounding. You’re just a really cool person with really interesting Amphibia takes and AUs. Also you gave me claws one time via polls and I wish to assure you that I have made the best use of them.

10. What's something you’re excited for?

Ooh! I have an example that isn't Amphibia related for once. Epic The Underworld Saga is coming out soon, which yes I am aware you know (because you're the one who cursed me with this interest, and I mean that positively) The music is just so well done and I’m really looking forward to it. The Art of Amphibia is coming out and I need it! Oh also Stardew Valley updated and I’m really looking forward to when the update is available on the switch.

28. hugs or hand-holding?

Hugs, they’re just really nice.

[thehandwixard]

um . could u give me the rain code pitch . i am still cursed with the dream specter and think i might need to play it to exorcise this

hi. so. this is going to be pretty long and slightly stream of consciousness, because i am always much worse about giving concise pitches than i think. i am also clicking my heels together in joy. its going to be very obvious that i love this game a lot... like. elevator pitch, i would give the game a solid, respectable 6/10 if ranking it purely in gameplay feel, overall execution, and the like. maybe edging closer to a 7 with its updates to performance since launch.

However, what is clear about raincode is that it as a 6 year long labor of love, and this endears me to it in the way that energy endears me to trigger happy havoc despite its flaws, its clunkiness, and its relative shortness. I would give it an easy 9/10 for the heights it strives for and the effort that went into the making of the world, the emotional resonance of the main characters, the story, the aesthetic. the psychic effects it has had on me, finally, cannot be measured. i need to find articles about gay bathouse culture for this game. thats not even a queer theme i think kodaka intentionally put in this game and trust me he puts stuff in intentionally, thats just one i keep thinking about. thats the headspace the game puts me in.

now,

THE (master detective archives/enigma archives) RAINCODE PITCH.

The danganronpa games, you know them. Kazutaka Kodaka, the writer of the games, you may or may not know that guy. I like his writing a lot since i got deeply into danganronpa in 2020. this is one of the only games i have preordered in years. He made a new game that's a 3-d mystery-adventure game. The soundtrack designer and character designer from those games are also here, and spitting. 

Raincode is a mystery-adventure game set in a unique world with what are described as “psycho-noir” aesthetics, referencing the heightened fantasy of the setting’s visuals compared to the (already electric) DR.

You play as Yuma Kokohead, an amnesiac trainee detective sent (along with several other, far higher ranking detectives) to the autonomous zone ‘Kanai Ward’ to investigate its never ending rain, its complete isolation, and the corporation that controls it: Amaterasu Corporation, its faction of ‘peacekeepers’, and its systematic refusal to let investigations be done inside or out.

The bulk of the game IS this detective work, even when you’re not working on a case. The city has several districts (with very clear class associations) that you are free to walk around in, and it uses cyberpunk aesthetics in a way that’s very pleasing to me. Kinda think splatsville but neon, its that design of.. an area thats still maybe a little too polished for a city but it has a genuine eye to how a city actually tends to look and the ways people use it and exist in it. there are quite a few incidental npcs, and i think they work well to make the city feel alive. One of my favorite aspects of the game is the goal to present a multinational setting, with stuff like signage in latin alphabets, cyrillic, kanji, and the character’s names.

I could go on about the design for a while and i have more notes about it later just. The World Is Really Cool. you know what the master detectives are? Theyre detectives sanctioned by the World Detective organization, given the title of master because of their innate psychic abilities that have been honed into forensic and investigative tools. The reason the trainee detective Yuma is an amnesiac is probably because he made a pact with a death god that links them “body and soul”, for purposes he can no longer remember and she is unable or unwilling to tell him. This pact, however, gives him his own edge in investigating. Obviously the game is centered around solving murders, though in a less personal way than in DR. Also like and unlike DR, the way you are guided into solving these murders is through a series of minigames (in a pocket dimension that is the mystery given form (called a mystery labyrinth where the psychedelic design starts to come out crazy hard)) which are. The minigames are fine, i do generally enjoy the non-stop debates from danganronpa more, but theyre well-designed and fun. The mysteries themselves are Bangers, i made it a goal for myself to at least try to solve all of the main ones by myself to test if they were good mysteries where u were given all possible information to piece together, and i never felt cheated when i didnt get it exactly right. Again, it misses some of the intense personal connection you get with some of the murders in dr with it not happening in a closed cast, but i think that the story of them is done very well. Smiles. 

And coming back to yuma, thats the other thing about this game. Danganronpa dealt heavily with exploring themes of student burnout, critiquing the justice system in specific areas like trial and (capital) punishment, etc with its characters, and where Raincode really shines in similar areas, but a little to the left. 

If danganronpa was essentially about teenagers who really didn't have much to gain from the system but useless power over other teenagers and the costs of punishing deviance from norms, raincode is grappling with power structures where adults do have a lot to gain from upholding them, especially through the politics of information. Misinformation, hiding information, even the collection and use of info. Like DR, it also has a lot of very interesting things to say about ‘giftedness’ and the way it can alienate people, though again with a strong eye in considering people without these gifts, and/or people who do not have “average” abilities and how they have to navigate this world. 

The themes are strong. I would argue the game is also edging into being about being disabled and the guilt of burdening or even just interacting others with characters like Yuma, Fubuki, and Pucci. Its really highly interesting and, thankfully Kodaka’s bottom-line touch is one of understanding. The duality of being othered by ability and othered by disability.

I think one of the things i like most about Raincode is its unflinching way it depicts the ebb and flow of our protagonists', Yuma and Shinigami’s, morals, goals, and convictions. It has a lot to say about what depending on other people means, the good and the bad of it, the ways you can be taken advantage of, and all of yuma’s relationships with the other characters showcase this heavily– how he feels about himself in relationship to them, what he wants them to feel about him, how they support him or use him. Its a game where, very plainly, you do not have all the information and are playing against sharks who will take every chance they get to puppet you around. 

and what helps, obviously, is that yuma and shinigami are delightful protagonists to follow. their dynamic is written with a lot of care and nuance and is also just. really funny.

I clear my throat. Addendum. Some things to note, about this game. We have some one piece type shit in here. What i mean by that is I respect komatsuzaki as a character designer but he makes a lot of weird choices in character design that i am unable to really understand the reason for at times. Kodaka is not getting off the hook for the writing of the characters of color, but its unclear how much.. Direct correlation kodaka’s writing and the designs have. Wont get too much into it.

The other thing i mean by that is. Transmisogyny but i put a huge “EXCEPT-” sign up. One of the best chapters of the game centers the transmisogynistic plot device of two male characters having to disguise themselves as girls to investigate a murder in a girl’s school. I am not a trans woman, but what i will say in my perspective being familiar with this trope in even recent stuff like mob psycho is that like. The characters generally can and will say edgy, really rude shit but i personally feel the game takes the stance that theres nothing wrong with crossdressing, yknow? And also the pervert character is explicitly trans-positive. That helps. Its a thing that looks bad head on and makes the pitch kind of hard because obviously its not something one expects to be any better than it looks.

Also the game is almost fully voice acted with only some incidental interaction dialogue not being voiced. The english voice actors do a fantastic job, and from what i understand many of the japanese voice actors have a lot of love for the game too (i can't speak on their performances lol)

(also theres a lot of extra material for the game in the form of dlc stories and collectable story interactions in the main game. these are difficult to know the correct time to experience them and are a bit clunky in that way but are very worth looking up when the time is right)

[celticbotanart]

Been feeling under the weather these past few days (hence why I'm a bit inactive here, as per usual); so let's go for another music post~

I've recently finished the season 1 of "Constellation", highly recommend it if you are into scifi, space/astronauts and time-alternative dimension-fuckery. The show is pretty awesome, and Noomi Rapace, who plays the protagonist is also a favorite of mine (and she's killing in this role as always <3).

I won't elaborate a lot, due to personal reasons but also bc spoilers, but the finale really made an impression on me and I've been thinking a lot about it. It also reminded me a lot of a couple of songs I know with these themes of "lost in space (metaphorically and literally)", longing, loss/grief and so on, and I want to share them with y'all~

1- "Moonhearts in Space" by Tina Guo ft Serj Tankian

You were undressed With your lies, I confess But I don't want to know 'Cause we're going to space Children, let's pretend We can see everything But we can't I can make the pain go away No, you can't

For context, Tina Guo is the original cello soloist in the soundtrack of the game "Journey", which is majorly cello all over it, as the "voice" of the main character. And also yes, that Serj Tankian (vocalist of System of a Down), haha. An unlikely pair that really pays off in this collab - Tina has a very intense and emotional playing style, and Serj really goes hard with sensitive, beautiful vocals as he does <3 I love how the lyrics are "all over the place", like someone's thoughts going from one thing to another really fast~

2- "Toki no Kioku" ("Memory of Time") by Yoko Kanno

Far away, long ago Wandering lost, so alone Passing eyes, parting sighs Some pains come through Where time flows, no one knows Pulsing dreams, barely seen In skies, thoughts of love go by

This is the ending theme of an anime / 6 episode OVA called "Please, Save My Earth" - the main plot is kind of inspired by the tale of Princess Kaguya (moon beings experiencing humanity). The story of "Please Save My Earth" tells about these teens who start to have dreams from their previous lives, where all of them worked together in a space station at the moon, trying to find a way of helping Earth and humanity, longing for it. It's a very strange anime, ngl, but I found it so captivating, from the detailed 90s anime style to the mysterious, introspective narrative. The music is by Yoko Kanno (most known for her work on Cowboy Bebop's OST), and "Toki no Kioku" really reflects the somber and melancholic tone of the story. I'm linking the version with the ending credits because I think the beautiful animation adds so much to the music's experience!

3- "The First Corpse on the Moon", by Lethe

Lethe is a project featuring Tor-Helge Skei and Anna Murphy (former Eluveitie, current Cellar Darling). No lyrics here because they are nowhere to find online, and I can understand only some bits of it (I have a hard time picking up English in singing). It's enough though, cause the title is pretty self-explanatory. Out all of these songs, it's probably the song that makes me think of "Constellation" the most (if you know, you know). I've always loved Anna Murphy's vocals and how she goes for darker, more introspective themes too, and this song is no exception

[everygame]

Hi-Fi Rush

Developed/Published by: Tango Gameworks / Bethesda Released: 25/01/2023 Completed: 09/12/2023 Completion: Finished it!

I loved this.

I’m not quite sure why, but saying so feels very exposing. Maybe it’s because before playing Hi-Fi Rush I had no idea what it actually was, and the game’s bright anime-adjacent stylings somewhat had me discounting it out of hand, so I assume the extremely cool people who read this would be doing the same.

Maybe it’s also just that Hi-Fi Rush is… pretty straightforward? It’s not particularly trying to move the medium forward (although I think it does some clever stuff) it’s just trying to be very, very good at what it’s doing. And what it’s doing, actually, isn’t so much “anime” as “full on Sega blue skies” while being an incredible competent 3D action platformer/brawler with a likable (dare I say loveable) cast of heroic misfits telling a simple but effectively structured narrative with some very savvy music choices.

The thing is that… succeeding at something that hits that many beats isn’t actually… easy? Something I’m most struck by is actually those characters. By now we’ve all seen the nadir of Marvel-inspired quip-a-thons thanks to the likes of that Forsaken trailer, but even looking at something like, say, Guardians of the Galaxy, where they have something that (at least previously) had worked, it’s remarkable how flat it falls. Here, you have a goofy, act-first-think-later hero, Chai, the cleverer-than-him female leader, Peppermint, the funny robot, CNMN, etc. in a very simple “baddies are doing bad things, let’s get the different things we need to defeat them” story, but it completely pops because there’s been care to keep the story rolling naturally so you flow through it and grow into caring about them. I’m so insanely curmugeonly that I can’t believed to ride that line for me. But they did!

Now you could say, “ah, but the secret weapon here is that the game uses actual songs that you actually like! That always works!” But it doesn’t work if all the pieces don’t fit together. There’s no better example than one of the game’s latter levels that uses The Prodigy’s Invaders Must Die. It plays at a moment where narratively all hell is breaking loose. It feels like you’re in a climax of an action movie, not just because the music is playing, but because the story has taken you there. That the level design is clever enough to cool down, let the music pull back a little, and then kick it back in for a climax? Absolute chef kiss.

(It only really gets better from there, too. Ending strong is rarely something I think video games aspire to, but Hi Fi Rush is sensibly around the 10 hour mark and the last three levels or so rip. Did the appearance of The Joy Formidable on the soundtrack literally make me emotional? Yes. Yes it did.)

Now interestingly, I haven’t actually played any other Tango Gameworks titles so I don’t really know if I should have expected rock-solid play, but either way I was surprised by how well it does. What makes Hi Fi Rush genius, I think, is that it takes a type of game I am incapable of not button-mashing through and adds a rhythm action component that doesn’t expect but rather, uh… politely asks you to hit your combos on rhythm. And it works!

I can criticise it, somewhat, however They quickly add quite a lot of subtleties to the combat and don’t tutoralise them heavily enough–I didn’t understand how to use Chai’s “partner combos” until well over half-way through the game, and I don’t know if I ever got comfortable with parries because standing around waiting for enemies to attack seemed the antithesis of everything else I was doing. There end up being a lot of buttons and you have to internalise the order of your partners and switching between them rapidly in situations where there are like 3 different kinds of enemies at once meaning at times combat is just a total stramash. But even then, there’s always the beat to follow. It’s very clever.

Anyway. I loved this. It’s one of my favourite things I’ve played in years. Your mileage may vary!

Will I ever play it again? When it finished I wanted to play it more. That literally never happens. I sort of hope there’s a sequel, but the story of this is so pleasantly complete that I’m not sure if there should be one.

Final Thought: I may also be a bit of a sucker for this game because you’re always accompanied by a black cat. Inspired by the game director’s!

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[komajordan]

Media I’ve Experienced in 2024 (February) SPOILERS

Same as last time, in order of when completed on a scale of 1-10

Clone High (2023) Season 2 (8/10)-Like a lot of people I wasn’t really on board with Clone High’s revival. If you want to know my thoughts it’s honestly a 6, it has some good jokes but it’s weighed down by more forced and obvious comedy. Season 2 however really surprised me, there were a ton of jokes I found funny, brought in some fanservice like Skunky Poo coming back and Cloney Island being fully realized, and a ton of the character chemistry works.

Bumblebee (10/10)-I never thought a solo Bumblebee movie with humans would work but it turned out to be pretty heartwarming and emotional. Charlie and Bee’s relationship felt real along with some fun action scenes.

Clone High (2002) (9/10)-I tried to watch the original Clone High back in 2022 but my memory got clouded by a lot of personal stuff at the time. So checking the original out felt like a reminder of what the show used to be. The bait-and-switch comedy is top notch, Gandhi’s prescience will always be welcome, and by God the emotional soundtrack makes a ton of scenes even funnier.

Hello Kitty:Roller Rescue (5/10)-Pretty basic beat-em-up, cute soundtrack and visuals, nothing too special. I’m probably just spoiled from playing Island Adventure.

The LEGO Movie (Rewatch) (10/10)-I watched this movie on the exact day of its 10 Year Anniversary and by God, this movie is as funny as I remember it. And after I just watched Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s other work in Clone High I can definitely tell I was spoiled from their comedy from age 8 too. The animation still looks great and I can basically recite the script from how many times I watched it in the past. While yes I’m biased, it’s a very sentimental type of bias that I can never let go.

The Lost Boys (7/10)-The Lost Boys is an old but fun movie. It captures the feeling of adolescent summer fun on the boardwalk along with the relatively small sense of horror of the vampire cult.

Us (9/10)-Back on Halloween last year I watched Get Out and I thought it was good as a psychological thriller but not really scary to me. Us on the other hand was a step-up in my opinion. The doppelgänger plot is really cool and the way the tethered family goes around terrorizing everyone felt thrilling. And man the twist, I’m not gonna spoil it but that twist felt like a complete game changer.

The Marvels (2/10)-This movie is not good but not the worst MCU movie ever. Personally I liked the interactions between Kamala, Monica, and Carol even though I’ve grown to dislike Carol overtime. But otherwise the villain is forgettable, a lot of the fight scenes are complete white-noise, and a lot of scenes are completely cringy and predictable.

Epic Career Quest (7/10)-Waking up after a Super Bowl aftermath was weird for me. I don’t know the general opinion is on this series but I found it entertaining. The characters being mismatched kind of works for me as someone who likes these types of ensembles like Drawn Together. And as a growing adult their messages about imposter syndrome and making your goals really stuck with me.

Terrifier (6/10)-I don’t know if this is a personal thing after seeing so much Invincible and Mortal Kombat but the violence here literally had no effect on me. Sure, this movie is scary but the plot kind of drags for me personally.

Terrifier 2 (8/10)-This movie is a step up in terms of scares and production value. Not to mention there’s more of a plot when the first was just a simple murder plot here it’s an extensive plot about people’s perception of Art The Clown and who he is. Where this movie falls flat for me is the sword thing, I personally thought that was an asspull and kind of out of place in a serial killer movie that a fantastical item just doesn’t fit.

Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur Season 2 (8/10)-Moon Girl Season 1 was a fun show that does a lot of cool superhero stuff while also doing enough to stray away from Marvel to make it its own. What do I think of Season 2? It’s on the same level. Nothing really noteworthy, they still do fun things, visuals are nice, and some of the plots are interesting.

Megaman X4 (9/10)-Probably my favorite Megaman X game given what I think about future games. The gameplay is fast paced and fun, the bosses are challenging but fun too, and the transition from SNES to PS1 translated greatly. And the cutscenes exist, if you know you know.

Jujutsu Kaisen (9/10)-Yeah I decided to ride the JJK train and unlike Naruto I do understand the hype. The animation is fluent especially with the domain expansion and curse enemies. I loved characters like Gojo, Maki and Nobara from their entertaining personalities. And Where Our Blue Is will always be one of my favorite songs in anime.

Freddy Vs. Jason (7/10)-The human parts suck especially if they get in the way of crossovers. But Freddy and Jason when they show up together they make the most out of them fighting each other and killing others. Not to mention the setup that has Freddy provoking Jason to getting into Elm Street works really well.

Venom:Let There Be Carnage (3/10)-If I described this movie in one word it would be annoying. Venom is a very obnoxious character who constantly screams and complains about everything. The cliche drama between Eddie and the rest of world is insufferable. The only remotely good part of the movie is the effects on Carnage as it was done pretty well. But other than that I have no desire to watch this one again.

Re:Cutie Honey (8/10)-Kill La Kill mixed with Ghost in the Shell. I honestly thought this was animated by Trigger. But in all honesty I love the fast paced action and character moments.

Resident Evil Revelations (4/10)-Boring. The ship location gets old and I wasn’t scared even once. I honestly like RE6 more than this considering that game has a lot of variety and fun gameplay. This game is so slow and unfulfilling.

Puella Magi Madoka Magica (9/10)-I love how subversive this anime is. Flipping magical girl tropes to be grim dark was a unique twist and made the characters more real than the traditional magical girl stereotype.

[perenlop]

right back at ya!

3, 5, 6, 10, and 13 for the pmd ask game!

3. Most memorable team of yours!

Gonna be 100% basic and say Rin (Vulpix) and Nimbus (Shinx). They're my childhood team, the duo I keep coming back to, the lovers, awakening, everything. HOWEVER! My GTI team Eris (Pikachu) and Kiran (Oshawott) is very close behind lmao. They're going through a bit of a reboot rn because I wanna drastically redo Eris's character but they're also very dear to me.

5. Which game has the best villain?

Yeah I gotta be basic again, it's Dusknoir LOL. His pre-reveal behavior, his hammy disposition, his motivations and connections with the other characters, they're all so good. It's kinda why I don't like how Darkrai was handled, lol. If Dusknoir can have such good, nuanced writing, why is Darkrai just a one-note baddie?

Munna is very very very close behind him, though. I LOVE how she's actually very very similar to Grovyle. I hope more fanworks reflect on how similar the two of them are because I think it's extremely fascinating.

6. Which game has the best soundtrack?

Okay I know this might be a bit controversial. But I think PSMD has the most consistently fantastic soundtrack in the series. I think there's literally only like, one or two songs I skip when I listen to it. Banger after banger after banger in pretty much every department. Town themes, emotional themes, dungeon themes???? It clears practically everything for me.

My favorite in the entire series is "Time Gear", but Explorers's entire soundtrack, while nostalgic, isn't a slam dunk for me. There's quite a few songs I don't care for or skip over. And tbh, I've never actually cared for RT's ost all that much... while PSMD is just consistently fantastic all around.

10. Which starters would you add?

Gligar LOL. Immediate choice obviously. But I'd also like some more unconventional options for fun!! Maybe some fish for example? I'd LOVE to have some bug options, like Nymble maybe. I know most people wouldn't want to be a bug, but the bug type is underrepresented and it needs more love. Espurr is also another one of course lmao. But I'm happy she got a major role in PSMD at least.

13. Which game makes you cry the most/makes you the saddest?

Gates to Infinity, no hesitation. I still well up at the ending with everyone breaking the laws of the universe to remember hero because they love them so much, it's deeply impactful for me. GTI is a game that I only appreciate more with age tbh...

[visualtaehyun]

BL/QL Ask game : The Ugly, the Bad and the Worst

Thank you for tagging me @twig-tea 🙏 I read your post and the questions while going Ohhh interesting but when I actually tried to answer them myself, I realized that I'm usually pretty positive about the shows I watch or else I just move on from them. Most of the time, I don't fault characters or a whole show for being bad anyway, it's more the writing/script, directing choices, or editing that I tend to have gripes with.

So! Of the entire 22 original questions (by @clara-maybe-ontheroad), I'll only be answering a handful. This will also only be about Thai BLs because they make up the vast majority of QLs I've seen.

1 Worst soundtrack / weirdest song choice in a BL

My knee-jerk reaction was "Never Let Me Go country song NC" lmao but then I went to rewatch said scene and it barely stood out to me. So after re-thinking I'll have to nominate two shows: Dangerous Romance and Until We Meet Again, for basically the same reason.

Chimon's OST สายลม (Wind), which I actually fell in love with when it dropped because Chimon's voice was such a pleasant surprise, is being entirely overused in DR, to the point that I'm starting to tire of a song that I actually like. Honorable mention: The completely random and unnecessary stage performance of Perth and Chimon's ซบกันไปนานๆ (Sunset) in ep. 5. Was it not enough to have them sing and vibe to it in the car earlier in the same episode??

Similarly, UWMA's OST is either entirely by one guy or entirely one song but it sure was grating on me, my patience and my enjoyment of the show. P'New series are already hit or miss for me but that singer/song/OST had me so fed up.

5 Worst plot line

The first show I ever dropped was Star In My Mind which is ridiculous considering how short it is. But the entire premise of Kluen being unable to open his goddamn mouth frustrated me to no end. I did pick it back up again at a later point though, so I could watch Sky In Your Heart and indulge in the JoongDunk cuteness from there on out.

7 A show people love but you find bad

I'm sorry to say but- it's Vice Versa. It was one of the first Thai QLs I watched along with as it aired but ultimately I gotta say Oof. It has a fun premise, the cinematography is super nice, and it's genuinely sweet. But the amount of product placements was staggering! I also just didn't vibe with JimmySea's chemistry, they just gave too much Friend energy for me to find them believable as a couple. They're not the only ones or the only series where I didn't really find the spark but that's not a Them problem. That's a me 'Needing my fictional couples to be head over heels for each other for my acespec ass to see/experience the attraction and connection' problem lol

8 A show people find bad but you will defend

Cutie Pie! And I will die on this hill, @twig-tea 😂 It has everything I love: good production quality, good acting, tangible chemistry between the couples (see last question lol), complicated emotions, push-and-pull between the romantic leads, a dedicated cast and crew, a great OST, I'm certain I'm forgetting a lot of stuff but there's just so much I love about this show.

At its core, it's about two people who turned themselves into the versions they think they should be for each other, based on their upbringing, expectations placed upon them, status differences etc. and how they learn to be honest with themselves and each other.

I've re-watched this show a number of times, each with different levels of Thai proficiency, which made me consider that this show might've been such a hit in Thailand but not as much internationally because there's maybe a language and trope/culture barrier here? On my first-time watch, I knew no Thai and was largely unfamiliar with what tropes are common in Thai romances and such. At the time, the show didn't hit me very much, I struggled to make sense of that pivotal fight in episode 1, I enjoyed the singing, it was mostly just a nice romance. On my most recent re-watch a few months back, I had reached the point where I could follow a spoken conversation in Thai as long as there were translated subs to guide me along. And suddenly the full weight of episode 1 but especially the fight at the end, setting up the central conflict, hit me and I realized: Oh wow! This is good writing! Introduce your characters, their backgrounds, their goals, and the show's core conflict and that's how you hook viewers.

This has already gotten long enough but I wanna mention how much it means to me to have this show not just call for marriage equality repeatedly but also to have them shout it out to the world by having their mlm couple fully make out in what is arguably one of the busiest corners of Bangkok - Siam Square! More specifically it is the area with the fountains between Siam Paragon on one side and Siam Center on the other, and the skywalk (that connects the various malls in the area) as well as the central BTS station Siam both overlooking that space. It's also called Parc Paragon, there's frequently events there, and it is busy as all hell!! And they not only cleared it for filming a lengthy queer kiss scene but, in the show, the huge LED/ad screens are used to project pride colors, a call for equal rights, and a queer marriage proposal in plain view of the entire square!

If you've never been to Bangkok, I beg you to look up photos, via Google Street View or the IG location tag for Parc Paragon so you get an idea of what I'm talking about. 🙏 (this isn't the only busy prominent location they used btw but djdjhdjsdj let's not write a whole damn essay here)

10 A bad show that you kept watching because you were intrigued/fascinated

Dinosaur Love - I watched the first episode, excited for Tonnam and Pepper, and found it charming with its low budget, pink-filtered tropey-ness. Except I quickly realized that this show was Actually Bad. The framing and blocking were often a big question mark to me. The pink filter and the background music got annoying quickly. The acting was subpar. At some point in episode 2 I started questioning if they ever even did more than one take per scene. There was a panning shot involving a mirror where the crew is just fully visible in the reflection?? Suffice it to say that I dropped this show like a hot potato when episode 3 very suddenly and very graphically had a side character self-harm. Squicked me out like nothing before, moving on!

11 A bad show that you kept watching because you were horny

I mentioned this already but I'm on the aro/ace-spectrum (...somewhere, don't ask me specifics lol) so I don't really watch shows for horny or eyecandy reasons. If I don't vibe with the characters or dynamics then I won't even perceive them as sexy, to be honest.

12 A bad show that you kept watching because of that one character

Why R U (the og Thai one), I guess? Everyone who's seen it probably knows that the production and filming suffered because of Covid so I wouldn't hesitate to call this show bad on that basis. I set out to watch it because I wanted to see more of Zee Pruk's acting, in another role, after having seen Cutie Pie. And Fighter ended up being most of the reason I stuck around till the end. The nuanced struggle with his own sexuality was so well-portrayed. Tutor is a very memorable character as well! And I'm entirely 🥰 about Hwa, she just perfectly fits this character archetype that I will always, without fail, completely adore.

21 The show that disappointed you the most

Most of the time, I either don't have big expectations or I let go of them quickly enough once I get a vibe for where a given show is going. The closest thing to 'disappointment' would then probably be all the shows that I kept seeing being recommended and hyped but that didn't leave a lasting impression on me after watching, like KinnPorsche, Love Mechanics, Manner of Death. None of these are bad OR disappointing and there's things I genuinely enjoyed and liked in them but ultimately I just didn't Get why they're so popular. I'm sure part of it is to do with me not having been around to follow along on a week-to-week basis but watching them long after they were done airing, basically in a vacuum. But alas!

I don't know how you managed to do all 22 questions, Twig Tea, when this fraction has already taken me like five hours 💀 Passing this time-eating curse on then to @airenyah @cangse-sanren/@zeesqueere @sadwetcatray @sorry-bonebag @telomeke @thegalwhorants @pharawee I'm sure this tag is making the rounds so some (if not all) of y'all have probably done this already. If anyone I didn't tag reads this and wants to play, feel free to tag me in it, I do enjoy reading hot takes and impassioned essays lol